Conservation – RUDDINGTON.info

‘Shade Sails’ in the Park

20th November 202310th December 2023 Graham Wright

Regular visitors to Rushcliffe Country Park here in Ruddington may already have noticed two rather ‘striking’ new additions between the children’s play area and outdoor gym/new skatepark. Officially called ‘Shade Sails’ (pictured top), they have been erected among the picnic benches to provide welcome shelter from the sun during the summer months, and protection from rain during the wet, winter months. They were funded by a visitor who made a generous donation in her will to a favourite park she had visited many times over the years. It’s possible the new structures rather…

A Feast of Free Trees!

1st September 20231st September 2023 Graham Wright

For the past six years, Ruddington residents have been offered the chance to make our properties greener by applying for ‘free trees’ from Rushcliffe Borough Council (RBC). Over 10,000 trees have been distributed since the start of this campaign in 2018. In previous years the authority has given villagers an option of TWO trees to apply for. For 2023 the choice has been doubled to FOUR possible alternatives. However, due to the previous high demand, we’re now only being offered ONE free tree per household. This year, a further one…

New Hedgehog Highways Opened!

16th August 202316th August 2023 Graham Wright

Unlike for Ruddington’s road traffic at the moment, progress for one of our nocturnal creatures has just been made a little easier thanks to some generous, nature-loving volunteers from a nearby village. It’s after RUDDINGTON.info teamed up with Wild Things Keyworth this summer to ‘Help Our Hedgehogs’ by creating a hedgehog gap in a deserving Ruddington garden – which would be fitted with an especially carved and decorated ‘Ruddington Hedgehog Highway’ surround, too. In the end, the group’s founder, Jennifer Manning-Ohren, agreed with carpenter Simon Dunstan, artist Liz Waddell and chief gap-driller Nick Ellerby they’d…

New Ruddington Café Shelter Opens

2nd June 202318th June 2023 Graham Wright

Visitors to Rushcliffe Country Park can now enjoy an extra place to take refuge from the rain – or the sun! – thanks to a brand new natural wood shelter constructed near the Visitor Centre. It also aims to provide a sociable space with additional all-weather seating where park-goers can enjoy refreshments from the adjacent ‘Coffee and Cake by the Lake’ café, which opened in October last year. The structure will also be used as an outdoor education centre to teach children the important part wildlife has to play in…

Country Park Path Closures

27th May 20233rd June 2023 Graham Wright

A major programme of works has been announced, taking place throughout this summer, to maintain and repair the network of pathways which criss-cross Rushcliffe Country Park. The popular Ruddington leisure facility welcomes hundreds of thousands of people each year – from our village and further afield. Its miles of paths will now be brought back up to standard from the resultant wear and tear ahead of the busy summer season. Rushcliffe Borough Council says its £45k capital investment will begin on Monday June 5th 2023 to improve the visitor experience and accessibility to…

MP & Councillors’ Open Letter to Bloor Homes

16th May 202316th May 2023 Graham Wright

Frustrated residents next to the new Ruddington housing development off Wilford Road have received some high profile backing in their bid to proceed with the agreed tree planting there as part of ‘The Queen’s Green Canopy’ (QGC). MP for Rushcliffe Ruth Edwards and Ruddington’s three Rushcliffe Borough Councillors – Jen Walker, Mike Gaunt and Graham Fletcher – have all signed an Open Letter to the owner and Directors of Bloor Homes Ltd. It’s after the developer’s regional office suddenly reneged on its promise to allow room for a row of trees…

Help Our Hedgehogs!

8th May 20233rd June 2023 Graham Wright

Ruddington wildlife lovers are being encouraged to take action to protect the red listed mammals – with ‘The State of Britain’s Hedgehogs 2022’ report suggesting numbers have declined by 75% in some parts of our country since the year 2000. The increased use of fencing between houses, rather than hedges, has been partly blamed. Besides established hedgerows providing a ‘home’ for the spiky creatures, hedgehogs can also travel up to a mile each night through people’s gardens if the activity of humans still makes this possible. They need around a dozen gardens…

Bloor Blunder Scuppers Residents’ Royal Tree Planting Plans

24th March 202328th March 2023 Graham Wright

A group of eco-minded Ruddington residents is expressing its dismay and disbelief that a major housing developer suddenly changed its mind about allowing them to plant a long row of trees on its land – and didn’t even tell them! As we reported on Monday, Bloor Homes East Midlands had given Brookside Residents’ Action Group (BRAG) for ‘The Queen’s Green Canopy’ (QGC) the go-ahead to plant a line of trees on a 223-metre long strip of ‘wasteland’ between its new bungalows and their existing houses. BRAG were led to believe this ‘void’…

Ruddington’s ‘Final Flourish’ for The Queen’s Green Canopy!

20th March 202321st March 2023 RUDDINGTON.info

As the extended deadline for planting trees to be part of ‘The Queen’s Green Canopy’ (QGC) draws near, a community voluntary group has revealed it’s about to put in what it believes will be the longest row of trees in our village so far in memory of Her Majesty. Brookside Residents’ Action Group (BRAG) for The QGC says it will plant over a hundred trees running between the boundary of existing homes and Ruddington’s new ‘Fairham Green’ development off Wilford Road (as shown above). It’s after the project was given both the necessary…

Another Celebration at Rushcliffe Country Park

31st July 202218th September 2022 Graham Wright

Once again a Green Flag has been raised in Ruddington’s Country Park – acknowledging our local green space as one of the very best outdoor spaces in the UK. Rushcliffe Country Park has been named again among 2,208 UK parks and green spaces that have received the 2022/2023 Award, which sets the benchmark standard for the management of recreational outdoor spaces across the UK and around the world. Rushcliffe Borough Council’s Portfolio Holder for Communities and Climate Change, Cllr Abby Brennan, joined The Friends of Rushcliffe Country Park volunteer group…